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The Summer Theory Institute (STI), founded in 2008 by HLS alumnae Nisha Agarwal ‘06 and Jocelyn Simonson ’06, is a workshop for HLS students with public interest internships in New York City. STI provides an opportunity for HLS students to reflect critically on their internships, to think about the role of social theory in legal practice, and to connect with and learn from other public-interest-minded students and alumni.
The mission of STI is to infuse excitement, innovation and sustainability into the fellows’ initial experiences practicing public interest law full-time. Working together to think through the role that social theory can play in legal practice and activism allows the fellows to engage more meaningfully with their organizations’ methods of pursuing justice on a day-to-day basis. By creating the space to discuss larger theoretical concepts outside of the work environment, STI enhances the fellows’ senses of the potential for intellectual rigor and personal fulfillment in public interest work. STI aims to create a community of future leaders who will bring their enthusiasm for pursuing social change through the law back to the HLS community at the end of the summer.
For ten weeks over the summer, fourteen institute fellows will meet with the facilitators one evening a week to discuss works of social and critical theory as they relate to the fellows’ public interest work. At each session, the group will engage with a different set of short theoretical readings, each focused loosely around a theme that relates to the students’ public interest work (e.g., economic justice, women’s rights). Although the readings will be tailored to the interests of the group, some examples of the types of thinkers we might engage with include Pierre Bourdieu, F.A. Hayek, bell hooks, and Kwame Anthony Appiah. It is also our hope to meet at least once with students from other law schools in New York engaging in similar theory-practice discussions.
STI fellows will receive a grant of $1000 to supplement their public interest funding. The grant will be disbursed in two installments of $500, the first to be paid at the beginning of the summer, and the second to be paid upon completion of the following:
- Attend and participate in all ten evening sessions;
- Prepare for each group meeting ahead of time;
- Lead one week’s discussion;
- Attend a case study training session; and
- Complete a case study related to your public interest organization
What is a case study?
In addition, if any of the fellows are interested in reflecting more formally on the relationship between theory and their summer public interest experiences, STI will help connect them to professors who would be willing to supervise larger writing projects for law school credit when they return to HLS.
Applications are due April 6, 2012. Download the application instructions
Nisha Agarwal, STI Co-founder and Facilitator, is currently the director of the Health Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), where she started her legal career as a Skadden Public Interest Fellow. Beginning April 1, 2012, Nisha will serve as a founding deputy director for the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), a new, high-impact national organization that will provide legal and organizing support to grassroots groups for state and local legislative campaigns that advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial justice agenda. Read more
Cara Suvall, STI Alumna and Facilitator, is a public defender at the Bronx Defenders, Inc. While at Harvard Law School, Cara was executive editor for special projects for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, co-executive director of the Prison Legal Assistance Project and co-president of Advocates for Education.
Jocelyn Simonson, STI Co-founder, is a supervising attorney in the Criminal Defense Practice at the Bronx Defenders, Inc., where since 2007 she has represented indigent clients charged with misdemeanors and felonies in criminal court. At the Bronx Defenders, Jocelyn practices a holistic model of public defense, working with colleagues across disciplines to address the causes and collateral consequences of arrests. Read more
Since its inception in the summer of 2008, institute fellows have worked with a variety of dynamic public service organizations, including:
- The ACLU
- NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund
- Bronx Defenders
- U.S. Attorney's Office
- Legal Aid Society
- Urban Justice Center
- New York Lawyers for the Public Interest
- New York City Law Department
- EarthJustice
- Environmental Protection Agency
Download a printable info sheet
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